US3058731A - Internally cooled conveyor roll - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 16, 1962 F. s. BLOOM INTERNAL-LY cooLED CONVEYOR ROLL Filed July 1'7, 1959 INVENTOR Frederick 8. Bloom 9g United States Patent Ofiice 3,h58,73l Patented Get. 16, 1952 3,058,731 INTERNALLY COOLED CONVEYOR ROLL Frederick S. Bloom, Mount Lebanon Township, Allegheny County, Pa. Bloom Engineering (30., 857 W. North Ave. N.S., Pittsburgh 33, Pa.)

Filed July 17, 1959, Ser. No. 827,890 4 Claims. (Cl. 263-6) This invention relates to an internally cooled conveyor roll utilizable in or in connection with industrial furnaces. More particularly, this invention pertains to water-cooled rolls for roller hearth furnaces for the metal industries.

In the heating of intermediate steel shapes to finish temperatures above 2000 F. while supportably conveying them on rolls, the use of alloy rolls is expensive and often subject to undue deterioration. This is particularly the case where the shapes are to be heated to final temperatures in the neighborhood of 2250 F. and above. On the other hand, when conventional water-cooled rolls are used under such furnace conditions, transversely spaced peripheral supports generally are utilized to support the work and even though welded to the water-cooled roll, they tend to deteriorate relatively quickly, necessitating removal of the roll for reconditioning or replacement and to impair refractory which may be against them. In the instant invention, internally cooled conveyor rolls are provided which are relatively trouble-free, less expensive and longer lasting, even under relatively high temperature furnace conditions. Furthermore, such conveyor rolls are uniformly cooled with consequent avoidance of overheated or weakened portions which contribute to reduced roll life. Preferably, the new conveyor rolls will be covered with refractory between the work supporting portions thereof to inhibit heat losses, minimize chilling of the furnace and work and to protect the rolls. Such refractory may also enable such rolls to be made out of relatively less expensive steel, or other suitable material.

Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be apparent fiom the following description and the accompanying drawings, which are illustrative only, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic view in cross section of a roller hearth furnace illustrating one internally cooled conveyor roll embodiment of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the conveyor roll shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view taken along line III-III of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 showing another conveyor roll embodiment of this invention;

FIGURE 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the conveyor roll shown in FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 6 is a view taken along line VI-VI of FIG- URE 5.

Referring to FIGURES l to 3, inclusive, of the drawings, a cross section of a refractory lined furnace 10 is illustrated having a horizontal roller hearth therein for the heating and heat treatment of work such as slabs, blooms, sheets, plates or other shapes of steel or other metal or material. Furnace 10 may be heated by burners (not shown) firing through ports 11 above and below the hearth itself. The hearth comprises a plurality of transversely extending longitudinally spaced conveyor rolls 12 of this invention. Each roll 12 comprises a water-cooled body 13 having ends 14 projecting beyond the sides of the furnace for journaling in bearings 15. A gear 16 may be secured to one end of the roll body for the turning thereof in accordance with the turning of the other rolls in the hearth to supportably convey work 17 through 7 furnace 10 for the heat treatment of such work. A

rotary seal in joint 18 is provided at each end of the roll 12, one of such joints being supplied by coolant such as Water through a main 19, through a regulating valve 20 and an elbow 21 to the stationary portion of the joint 18, the other portion of which revolves with the roll while maintaining the seal therein. At the other end, the efiluent coolant passes out through an elbow 22 and a pipe 23 to a sump 24 from which the coolant is discharged to a sewer or recirculated through a cooling tower for return or otherwise handled as desired.

As shown, body 13 may be made of high strength steel pipe sections with the ends 25 of those sections swaged to a diameter greater than the diameter of the cylindrical conduit portion of the body 13 between such ends. The

swaged ends of abutting sections may be welded together in a watertight joint to form integral annular disks 26 with peripheral faces 27 to supportably convey the work 17. Before the opposed adjoining ends 25 are welded or otherwise secured together, a distributor plate 28 is positioned in each disk 26 transverse to the axis of the roll and spaced from the respective sides 29 thereof. The plates 28 are secured in place by welding or otherwise and are provided with circumferentially spaced openings 30, the aggregate area of which will cause the coolant water to spurt through such openings when water fills and is forced through the interior of each roll 12 in the direction of arrow 31. Thereby, such water will fiow over and wipe the entire interior of the roll body 13 inclusive of the disks 26 in generally uniform manner around the axis of the roll to prevent hot spots and inhibit the formation of any gas pocket within the disk 26. The initial pressure head of the coolant will be sufiicient to provide a suitable pressure drop across each plate 28 before the coolant reaches discharge pipe 23. Such distributor plates 28 may also serve to rigidify the roll construction. Precast or castable refractory material 32 is employed to cover the sides 29 and cylindrical surfaces 33 of the conveyor roll body sections in higher temperature furnaces especially to inhibit deterioration of the roll and chilling of the work and furnace.

In the modified embodiment shown in FIGURES 4 to 6, inclusive, parts generally corresponding in construction and functioning are provided with the same reference numerals, respectively, with the addition of a prime accent thereto. In such modified embodiment, the internally cooled roll body 13' may be made in sections as aforesaid and assembled without the use of distributor plates. However, a stationary outlet manifold 34 is provided so as to extend through the body 13. The right hand end of manifold 34, as shown in FIGURE 4, may be supported in fixture 21' and plugged or otherwise separated from the stream of coolant water passing through that fixture 21. The left hand end of manifold 34 is supported in stationary fixture 22' and has an outlet therefor which is separate from the Water outlet to which discharge pipe 23' is connected. A vent pipe 35 communicates with the left hand end of manifold 34 to conduct gas, such as steam, passing therethrough into a body of discharged coolant liquid 36 in sump 24'. Vertical intake branches 37 are fastened to manifold 34 with the upper ends thereof adjacent to the inside of the topmost point or crest of the respective faces 27', whether the rolls 12 are turning, or are stationary at the time being. Thus, any gas which may tend to accumulate inside the disks 26 will vent itself through the intakes 37 and manifold 34 to insure liquid coolant contact against the whole of the interior of each roll 12' inclusive 0 of the hollow annular disk portions 26 thereof.

Various changes may be made in the illustrated embodiments and other embodiments provided without departing from the spirit of this invention or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A water-cooled conveyor roll comprising, in combination, a' plurality of body sections in end-to-end relation, at least some of said body sections having their respective adjoining ends in enlarged form and joined to form hollow annular disks along said roll, a distributor plate having openings therethrough around its circumference and secured within each disk across the entire interior thereof between the respective sides of said disk, the area of the openings through said distributor plate being less than the adjacent cross section for coolant flow, means for admitting coolant directly to the whole interior of said roll at one end and discharging it from the other, and refractory fixed to the periphery of said roll and covering the same inclusive of the sides of said disks.

2. An internally cooled conveyor roll comprising, in combination, a plurality of tubular metal body sections in end-.to-end relation, at least some of said body sections having their respective adjoining ends in enlarged form and joined to form hollow annular disks along said roll, and a distributor plate having openings therethrough around its outer portion and secured within each disk across the entire interior thereof between the respective sides of said disk and to the interior of the peripheral portion thereof, thevarea of the openings through said distributor plate being less than the adjacent cross section area for coolant flow.

3. A water-cooled conveyor roll comprising, in combination, a plurality of sections having cylindrical hollow metal body portions, a plurality of hollow metal annular disks between said portions with the respective interiors opening fully into each other, a distributor plate positioned across said sections within said disks and fixed to the interior thereof, said distributor plate having openings therethrough to direct water against the interior of said disks uniformly around the axis of said roll, and a refractory covering for and fixed to said portions.

4. A water-Cooled conveyor roll comprising, in combination, a plurality of cylindrical hollow metal body portions, a plurality of hollow metal annular disks between said portions with the respective interiors opening into each other, and a plurality of distributor plates positioned .at least in said disks respectively and having openings around the periphery of each thereof to promote and maintain water contact. against the interior of said body including said disks, said plates being attached to the inside of said body respectively.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 15,011 Costello Dec. 21, 192.0 7 723,276 Hughes Mar. 24, 1903 1,634,858 Stoop July 5, 1927 2,021,913 Fallon Nov. 26, 1935

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